


Good Intentions

by Salmon_I



Category: The Tomorrow People (2013)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of Violence, Pretty much good intentions pave the way to hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 20:36:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5799106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salmon_I/pseuds/Salmon_I
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be an option, not an obsession.  It was supposed to heal the divide. Instead, it started a war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Intentions

Genetics might not have been his first choice once. Science, undoubtedly, but genetics had never attracted him. Not even after his younger brother froze a bullet in time for him. Back in those days it wasn't about science. It was two teenage brothers with a secret. 

It was Roger running to him when new things happened. ("I'm telling you, I moved it without touching it.") 

It was the rush they both got out of teleporting around. ("Can we do that one more time?") 

It was learning how to shield his mind so Roger wouldn't immediately know he had a crush on his history project partner, and torment him about it for weeks. 

("There goes Liiinda." 

"Okay, ground rule one - you are not to read my mind.")

To two teenage boys it was a grand adventure. How and why weren't as important as the doing. Then Roger messed up teleporting and broke his leg. Suddenly the adventure came with a side of danger. ("Do you think I could mess up worse than a landing? Do you think I could, well, hurt myself?")

Suddenly how and why were important. He was the elder one, he was the smart one, he needed to have those answers for his brother. He needed to be able to offer reassurance that everything would be alright. So classes it was. Biology, Genetics, anything that could offer answers.

It wasn't a game anymore, it was a mission. They weren't adventures, they were experiments. Roger took the switch in stride. He came to the little lab Jedikiah was working at after hours and they ran tests and experiments. Checked his blood for anomalies, did a catscan of his brain, and tested his limits.

Both Bathory and Crick thought he was jealous of Roger's abilities. They were both wrong. He'd never been jealous of his powers. Jealous of other parts of his life, possibly, but his powers were just part of Roger. Even seeking out Bathory after seeing him speak at a conference had been about providing for his brother, not taking from him. Bathory was wealthy. Bathory was a potential backer. Then Bathory had powers, and all the rules changed.

Suddenly Bathory and his brother were holding private telepathic conversations, and he was being left behind. He'd never had a problem with Roger having powers. He very much had a problem that Bathory did. Bathory who called him "Sap", and mocked him for being human. As if he were inferior, even though it was his work providing all the answers for them. Suddenly there was this divide, a species divide, something he'd never overcome and put Roger and him on opposite sides. Unless it could be overcome.

("You'll never be your brother, Jedikiah.")

The interpretation of a man who didn't have a sibling. Who loved power, not people. He didn't want to **be** his brother. He wanted to **be there** for him. He didn't want to gaze out across a chasm at him, and wonder when the chasm would become a battle line. If someone could choose to have powers, then there'd never be a battle. Which would he choose if given the option? To be honest, he didn't know. He didn't see a problem with being a human. He'd helped Roger through the early development of his powers with not a shred of his own. But it would be a lie to say that the idea of having them didn't appeal to him.

It was supposed to be an option, not an obsession. It was supposed to heal the divide. Instead, it started a war.

 

His name was Gary Linder. He was the first Homosuperior they met who enjoyed violence. They were surprised he didn't kill his victims, considering all he did to them. They didn't know then about the prime wall. It was not something that came up in normal conversations or situations. Most humans were never in a kill or be killed situation. Bathory was who suggested that it wasn't that Gary didn't want to kill, maybe he couldn't. Maybe their species couldn't. It should have been their first warning sign, but chasing down a homosuperior who was beating people up seemed more important than why Bathory might suggest it so casually. So factually. Gary got the drop on him, and he'd been badly beaten when Roger got there. His memory of the fight was vague, his memory of Roger screaming in pain were crystal clear. 

("I couldn't kill him." 

"Lots of people can't kill, Rog." 

"You don't get it, Jed, I wanted to kill him. I just couldn't.")

It would be two years before Gary resurfaced. Bathory nominated Jedikiah to kill him, seeing as he was human and therefore could. Roger had been furious at his words. ("Just because my brother CAN kill doesn't mean he SHOULD. He's not here to be your damn butcher.") The problem was, it was simple logic. Handing Gary to the police was useless. He had to be stopped. Homosuperior's couldn't kill. Humans could. Logic didn't make his hands less shaky when he pulled the trigger. Logic didn't stop the nightmares. 

("Let me into your mind, Jed. Let me share this burden." 

"You don't want it, Roger." 

"I do." 

"You can't have it. It's against your hardwiring.")

The chasm gaped between them. It was the first time he went where Roger couldn't instead of vice versa. It was a dark place, though. He'd lost something that day he could never regain.

("I'm a scientist, not a hit man. If this happens again, we hire people for it." 

"By all means. It's perfectly logical.") 

He thought the kill squads were the end of things. Instead, they were the beginning.

 

 

Her name was Nan Fjord. She was fourteen, and didn't want to be a homosuperior. ("I just want to be normal. I want it to go away.") He'd never thought the chasm went both ways, but Nan's misery was all too real. ("If you're a doctor, why can't you cure me?") The formula would take four years to develop. Two years too late for Nan, who walked into traffic on purpose because the prime barrier wouldn't allow her to slit her own wrists. It had begun as a gift to a girl who'd only ever wanted normal. It was completed to honor her memory. It was meant to offer a choice. It would become a weapon instead.

 

His name was Connor Gaol. He was a would be reporter. Back in those days they didn't make homosuperiors work for them or take away their powers. Someone got careless, Connor had a camera.

("He's going to break the story. He has to be silenced."

"He's a college wannabe. We just need to take his tapes. He's not hurting anybody." 

"If he reveals homosuperiors to the world, we all suffer, Jedikiah. Your people and mine." 

"He doesn't deserve to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." 

"Why? Because he's a homosapien?" 

"If we're being so logical, what about the homosuperior he taped? Shouldn't they be punished?"

"Then your solution is to kill them both."

"My solution?" 

"Are you telling me that wasn't what you were suggesting?" 

Was it? He wasn't sure anymore.)

 

Roger met a girl. Roger got married. Jedikiah watched as two innocent people died for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

("Aren't you supposed to be flirting with a hot bridesmaid or something, not moping at the bar?"

"You watch too many movies."

"No, if it was a movie, you'd be after my bride."

"Yah, Marla? Not my type."

"So you do have a type? I was starting to worry."

"Don't turn into one of those married types who try to matchmake all their single friends."

"Not all my friends, just the brother who seems determined to spend the rest of his life making love to his laboratory."

"Married to my work, that's me."

"Jed, at least get yourself a hobby.")

 

 

They were supposed to be a research facility. They were supposed to be a place where both species could come together. Help each other. Suddenly they were policing homosuperiors instead of studying them. Suddenly any homosapien who learned the truth was a security risk, and the kill squads had more work than ever. Suddenly they were at war, and even though he could track where each step began (Gary Linder, Nan Fjord, Conner Gaol...), he still didn't understand how it had gone so wrong.

His brother had a wife and sons. Had a life outside of Ultra. Argued with Bathory. Told him to cut ties. He was in too deep, though. If he left, Bathory would order him killed. He didn't tell Roger that. He didn't tell Roger a lot.

 

His name was John Young, and for the first time since Gary Linder, Jedikiah felt like his ability to kill gave him a chance to help someone instead of hurt them. John looked at him like he hung the moon, and Jedikiah wanted to live up to that look. Then John broke the rules and Bathory gave him a choice that wasn't a choice. ("The human, or your favorite trainee. Which will it be, Jedikiah?") John watched his friend die, and Jedikiah wondered when this became his world. Shattering the innocence of a preteen kid and gunning down newsstand owners who had never committed a crime.

Roger yelled, and screamed, and asked what happened to his brother. Jedikiah deflected, and defended his choices and wondered how the hell he'd ended up on Bathory's side.

 

Roger ran, and Jedikiah plotted. A kill squad didn't stand a chance against Bathory, but another homosuperior would. Project Annex. John wasn't on the list. John volunteered. Jedikiah wondered if he was to blame or if another devil had whispered in John's ear. Annex was supposed to be his triumph. A step closer to stopping Bathory for good. Instead, it was the thing that haunted his nightmares.

 

Bathory was going to commit mass genocide with his brother's powers. His brother had some crazy notion of sticking himself in limbo through temporary death. He had orders to kill his brother. Worse he had orders for John to kill his brother.

("I don't see how for his first assignment you expect him to take on someone as powerful as Roger."

"As you just pointed out, your brother is powerful, too powerful for a kill squad. Isn't this the point of the project?"

"Later, yes, but this is his first kill."

"Tell me, Jedikiah, should I be worried you're compromised where John is concerned?"

"I am not compromised in concern to Agent Young."

"No? Then perhaps it's your brother who you're compromised over?"

"I am not compromised period."

"Then I expect my orders to be obeyed. Don't give me a reason to doubt you, Jedikiah. I wouldn't want to have to resort to digging into your mind for the truth.")

He'd hoped John wouldn't be able to pull the trigger, but he should have known better. Life was never that kind to him.

Roger was on ice; John turned against him, and things went from bad to worst. If he wanted to kill Bathory himself, he needed powers. To gain those, it meant experimenting on people. Bathory was experimenting himself, trying to strengthen homosuperior abilities. Trying to artificially create his brother's skill. The war between them was now full-scale, and homosapiens and homosuperiors alike were their collateral damage.

 

Her name was Morgan Burke. He didn't believe in psychics, and he'd only agreed to have her do a reading because they'd been flirting from afar all evening. It had been awhile since he'd allowed himself an evening free for something so simple and human as an evening walk and what was meant to be a meaningless flirtation. He didn't shield his mind, because he didn't expect to find a telepath posing as a pyschic. She should have run screaming from him from what she picked up, but didn't. He should have killed her - just another collateral damage - but didn't. He wasn't supposed to fall in love at the worst possible time in his life, but he did.

 

Then his nephew broke out, and the rules changed again. He had to protect Roger's family. He had to kill Bathory to do it. Stephen looked at him like he was a monster, and he probably wasn't far off. Good Intentions paved the road to hell, and he'd bought his ticket long ago. If it saved some of those he cared about, he'd hold onto those good intentions in his heart, even as he sold his soul again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a weak spot for Jedikiah, who I feel was probably the most complicated character in the series. I didn't care for the way they portrayed him in the last episode, cuz I felt there was a redemption arc going on, and that they then completely abandoned it to make it easy on themselves to set up a second season.
> 
> Lots of head cannon for this fic because I think things don't add up quite so simply as "Jedikiah is jealous of Roger" when he cares so much for the darn guy. Also, I think that their organization when from "study Tomorrow People" to "Massacre everyone" way fast considering the ages of Jedikiah, Roger, and Bathory, so I wanted to explore how it got there.
> 
> All and all, I think I managed to mostly stick to canon while still offering a view of Jedikiah's motives and actions that don't condemn him as little more than a jealous ass who wants his brother's powers for himself.


End file.
